Quote: Today we’re extremely excited to share two big announcements that deliver on what are easily the most frequently requested asks from our community over the last few years: 1) Halo: Reach is being added to Halo: The Master Chief Collection and 2) the entire collection is coming to PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam!

THE GREAT JOURNEYBefore we jump into what all this means, let’s take a quick walk down memory lane. Halo: The Master Chief Collection (“MCC”) launched for Xbox One back in 2014 and offered four complete game experiences in one handy package. Soon thereafter, Halo 3: ODST’s campaign was added, rounding out the ultimate collection of classic Halo game content.

Over the past year, the team at 343 Industries has been working on updating and enhancing MCC in close partnership with the community. Through months of public flighting and player feedback, MCC has grown and evolved into an entirely different product with improved and modernized matchmaking and services, support for 4K/HDR, offline LAN, better controls and input customization, and more. Last September, the enhanced and improved MCC landed on Xbox Game Pass and gave a whole new audience a way to experience Master Chief’s saga (or for existing fans, a way to relive those classics like never before).

All of this work, along with the support of the community, was instrumental in not only reinvigorating MCC, but laying the foundation to take the next step and bring it all to PC in a way that honors both the Chief’s legendary journey — and the PC features and conventions that players wanted to see Halo take advantage of.

MCC FOR PCLater this year, these classic Halo experiences will start to arrive on PC via the Microsoft Store and, for the first time in the series - on Steam. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us to bring the Halo Universe and Master Chief’s story to a new audience and to offer PC gamers a chance to step into the franchise on the PC platform of their choice.

The Master Chief’s arrival on PC will happen in stages with each title releasing one by one over time - giving the development teams the ability to ensure each one is right, while giving players a chance to jump in right away, rather than having to wait for the entire suite of games to be completed. Our current plan is for this journey to begin with the launch of Halo: Reach – the fictional beginnings of Master Chief’s saga – with the rest of the titles following in chronological order thereafter. Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST (Campaign), and Halo 4 will each be available for individual purchase within MCC as they become available. And each game will evolve and grow over time with community input.

For the team at 343 Industries, the most important and critical element of this project is ensuring that MCC delivers a true “first class” experience on PC. We’re embarking on a journey with our community to build a real PC experience that delivers on PC gamer expectations. The team is passionately committed to ensuring that all the features, bells, and whistles expected in a modern PC title are included with MCC. These features may vary somewhat by title, and we won’t get everything in there all at once – this is a product and an experience that will grow and evolve over time. We are laying the groundwork for PC native features such as excellent mouse and keyboard controls, support for multiple resolutions and aspect ratios, field-of-view sliders, and adjustable framerates, to name but a few. And yes, there will be support for Xbox gamepads and other PC controllers.

REMEMBER REACHAlong with “bring MCC to PC!” the next loudest refrain from Halo fans has been to “add Reach to MCC!” and we’re excited to make good on both requests later this year. As part of MCC, the prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved looks and plays better than ever and will arrive in slightly different ways depending on your platform of choice.

MCC’s “Intelligent Delivery” feature on Xbox One allows players to pick and choose to install campaign and/or multiplayer content and Reach will be offered in the same way. On Xbox One specifically, Halo: Reach’s multiplayer content (which includes Forge and the Theater) will be automatically included for everyone who owns MCC while Halo: Reach’s Campaign and Firefight experiences will be offered together as a premium digital add-on. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have access to the entirety of Halo: Reach within MCC as part of their subscription. Just like the rest of the titles in MCC, Halo: Reach is silky-smooth at 60FPS and visually stunning in 4K/HDR on compatible hardware.

Halo: Reach will look and play just as great when it lands on the Microsoft Store and Steam and include PC-specific features and options. Campaign, Multiplayer, and Firefight will come packaged together for purchase as the first step in this PC journey.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORKBringing all these classic games together and integrating the huge matrix of features and experiences PC gamers and Halo fans deserve and expect is a monumental undertaking. It’s no secret that the bulk of the team of 343 Industries is hard at work realizing the future of the franchise with Halo Infinite so the same amazing Publishing Team who diligently brought all the recent improvements and updates to MCC over the last year has invited a few friends to help us achieve victory. The experienced and passionate folks at Splash Damage and Ruffian are partnering with us to help make this dream a reality.

Splash Damage co-founder and CEO Richard Jolly says, “For almost twenty years, Splash Damage has had multiplayer gaming at its very core. Being part of the team bringing this legendary franchise to PC for the very first time is a tremendous honor for everyone here at Splash Damage, and we’re excited for Halo fans around the world to play what we’re hard at work on!”

“We love Halo and are mindblown to help bring this franchise back to PC. 343 has assembled an amazing team who’re working hard to build the Halo PC experience fans deserve,” says the team at Scotland-based Ruffian Games. “It’s a privilege to be along for the ride.”

LOOKING AHEADLast year we looked to the community to partner and help us update and improve the original MCC, and we’ll be doing the same again this year for this ambitious project. We'll be sharing more information on how players can get involved during the HCS Invitational broadcast this coming Sunday, March 17, live from SXSW. You can find more information about this unique three-day event and the full schedule HERE.

Additionally, we know many of you will have questions, so stay tuned to Halo Waypoint – we’ll have plenty more to say, share, and show on the road to release. The team at 343 Industries, along with our partners at Splash Damage and Ruffian, are already hard at work and we can’t wait to bring the community along on this journey.

On behalf of the entire 343 Industries team, thank you to everyone who’s continued to play and support Halo and MCC and for not giving up on the dream of one day enjoying these great experiences on a PC.

It was an honor playing with all of you. We all can dream of custom edition support for Halo 1. It seems like an impossibility though. I hope someone archives all of the good Halo Custom Edition maps. I will see all of you on the other side.

^ what he said. Even if I wasn't active very often, Custom Edition and this community were a highlight of my teenage years and I've sunk hundreds of hours into it. But now, I think, for the last time, goodbye everyone. I'll see you in Halo MCC!

Quote: --- Original message by: clonecam117^ what he said. Even if I wasn't active very often, Custom Edition and this community were a highlight of my teenage years and I've sunk hundreds of hours into it. But now, I think, for the last time, goodbye everyone. I'll see you in Halo MCC!

And then it turns out its poop and even more dead than Halo Custom because of the bad port job. Then Halo custom lives on for another decade. Haha I have low expectations. But it wouldnt take much if it means halo 1 and 3 on pc. Personally.

Got the news and thought I'd come back and log in for the first time in years. Boy what a ride it's been. This really was one of the most significant parts of my gaming life early on too, though I already moved on a long time ago. Thanks for being there. I'll see you in the next life.

Quote: --- Original message by: OMGWTHBBQHAXZORZ XDGot the news and thought I'd come back and log in for the first time in years. Boy what a ride it's been. This really was one of the most significant parts of my gaming life early on too, though I already moved on a long time ago. Thanks for being there. I'll see you in the next life.

Same saw the news of MCC comming to PC and immeditaley thought of this site. Hoping that they can somehow bring custom edition to the PC version and be compatiable to all the old maps on this site.

I think it is in Microsoft’s best interest to release some form of editing kit. Doesn’t necesairly have to be released right away with the game. In any regard, people will have an interest in reverse engineering the game, so might as well give them what they want.

i don't think it'll be any good plus you'll need a xbox sub,for it to work online

and to that i don't think it'll be any good full stop, but halo wars one wasn't so bad so just maybe just.. maybe it could be good. but don't think it'll be like halo ce in any way,mods will be a no noEdited by DOOM899 on Mar 13, 2019 at 05:18 AM

Wow my log in still works after all these years! As soon as I saw the livesteam I thought about you guys and this site. It's been 10 solid years since I found Halo Custom Edition. I put so much hours into playing custom edition during my teenage years! Thank you guys for helping me mod and sharing wonderful custom maps on Halo CE. Hope this site will never die!

i don't think it'll be any good plus you'll need a xbox sub,for it to work online

and to that i don't think it'll be any good full stop, but halo wars one wasn't so bad so just maybe just.. maybe it could be good. but don't think it'll be like halo ce in any way,mods will be a no noEdited by DOOM899 on Mar 13, 2019 at 05:18 AM

Can anyone else confirm this? I own Forza Horizon 3 on Xbox one, and got it on PC too, and I don't have an Xbox Live paid subscription. Yet play online just fine. I think Xbox Live paid is only for Xbox console players.

Quote: --- Original message by: Nickster5000I think it is in Microsoft’s best interest to release some form of editing kit. Doesn’t necesairly have to be released right away with the game. In any regard, people will have an interest in reverse engineering the game, so might as well give them what they want.

I highly doubt this for one reason; Why would they? Who even has the talent to make custom content for the Halo 3, Reach or 4 Engine, both of which are completely proprietary and have never been used by anyone outside Bungie/343 before? And if there are a few people out there, are those people Microsoft's Target Demographic?

They're releasing this to boost the Windows platform, and to draw in gamers. Not game designers. That's why they mentioned NOTHING about custom content, that's why they said nothing about an editing kit.

And how would such an editing kit even work? They'd have to release 5 kits, for Reach, 1, 2, 3/ODST and 4. None of them would be compliant with the others.

If it happens it's a miracle, but there's a reason they haven't talked about it. Best case to look into is the Anniversary map format, and creating a converter or compiler to let us load custom .map files in the Halo 1 Anniversary engine. This community burned it's goodwill with Microsoft by stealing their crap for the past 15 years and releasing it for free.

Quote: --- Original message by: DeadHamsterAnd how would such an editing kit even work? They'd have to release 5 kits, for Reach, 1, 2, 3/ODST and 4. None of them would be compliant with the others.

If it happens it's a miracle, but there's a reason they haven't talked about it. Best case to look into is the Anniversary map format, and creating a converter or compiler to let us load custom .map files in the Halo 1 Anniversary engine. This community burned it's goodwill with Microsoft by stealing their crap for the past 15 years and releasing it for free.Edited by DeadHamster on Mar 13, 2019 at 05:24 PM

This. Custom .map files into the H1A would be the best I'd really hope for.

And not to justify, but one might argue that the content ripping was caused by cold shoulder to demand. It's just really interesting to me that all of a sudden they'd acknowledge the demand for Halo on PC. As far as I've seen they've never really done that before.

Quote: --- Original message by: DeadHamsterThis community burned it's goodwill with Microsoft by stealing their crap for the past 15 years and releasing it for free.Edited by DeadHamster on Mar 13, 2019 at 05:24 PM

Well if we're being honest, had they just released Halo 3+ on PC, this community would have dried up much faster. You're probably right about everything else though.

Quote: --- Original message by: Nickster5000I think it is in Microsoft’s best interest to release some form of editing kit. Doesn’t necesairly have to be released right away with the game. In any regard, people will have an interest in reverse engineering the game, so might as well give them what they want.

I highly doubt this for one reason; Why would they? Who even has the talent to make custom content for the Halo 3, Reach or 4 Engine, both of which are completely proprietary and have never been used by anyone outside Bungie/343 before? And if there are a few people out there, are those people Microsoft's Target Demographic?

They're releasing this to boost the Windows platform, and to draw in gamers. Not game designers. That's why they mentioned NOTHING about custom content, that's why they said nothing about an editing kit.

And how would such an editing kit even work? They'd have to release 5 kits, for Reach, 1, 2, 3/ODST and 4. None of them would be compliant with the others.

If it happens it's a miracle, but there's a reason they haven't talked about it. Best case to look into is the Anniversary map format, and creating a converter or compiler to let us load custom .map files in the Halo 1 Anniversary engine. This community burned it's goodwill with Microsoft by stealing their crap for the past 15 years and releasing it for free.

Edited by DeadHamster on Mar 13, 2019 at 05:24 PM

They loose nothing by releasing the tools for Halo 1 anniversary multiplayer. Which is based off the Gearbox PC port. They probably wouldn't even need to create much documentation since that is already taken care of by Halo Custom Edition.

I'm sure they could draw in even more attention by giving us the ability to load custom edition maps in H1A multiplayer. A blog post they posted a few months ago talked about Kornman looking into doing just that.

The obstacles they pointed out that were preventing them from loading them on Xbox don't really exist on PC.

I remember joining the Halo PC community almost 14 years ago. It has been an amazing experience modding and creating maps with the community. We Halo CE guys ported tags, recreated modes like firefight, and put our own spin on custom multiplayer. I believe this spirit will continue in MCC, with or without an HEK.

I look forward to seeing the future of Halo's vibrant, creative, and friendly community. We did it!

Man, I s*** posted here a lot before, but it's good to see so many people coming back to the forums after the announcement. The PC community is finally getting some TLC.Edited by The Barron on Mar 14, 2019 at 10:25 PM